Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900 PDF
Preview Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900
Bestsellers Popular Fiction Since 1900 Second Edition Clive Bloom Bestsellers Other recent books by Clive Bloom CULT FICTION: Popular Reading and Pulp Theory GOTHIC HORROR: A Reader’s Guide from Poe to King and Beyond (editor) (2nd edition) LITERATURE, POLITICS AND INTELLECTUAL CRISIS IN BRITAIN TODAY VIOLENT LONDON: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900 Second Edition Clive Bloom © Clive Bloom 2002,2008 All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House,6–10 Kirby street,London ECIN8TS. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 Second edition 2008 published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publisher Limited, registered in England,company number 785998,of Houndmills,Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St.Martin’s Press LLC,175 Fifth Avenue,New York,NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom,Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-53689-0 ISBN 978-0-230-58387-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230583870 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.Logging,pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bloom,Clive. Bestsellers :popular fiction since 1900 / Clive Bloom.– 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes index. 1. English fiction–20th century–History and criticism. 2. Popular literature–Great Britain–History and criticism. 3. Books and reading–Great Britain–History–20th century. 4. Best sellers–Great Britain–Bibliography. I. Title. PR888.P68B58 2008 823′.9109–dc22 2008029955 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 For my Mum, Esther Bloom This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface to the Second Edition xvi Preface to the First Edition xviii Acknowledgements to the Second Edition xx Acknowledgements to the First Edition xx Introduction to the Second Edition 1 1 Origins, Problems and Philosophy of the Bestseller 23 2 How the British Read 51 Literacy 51 Assessing literacy levels 51 Literacy in practice 54 Reading and the Influences of Cinema, Television and Radio 57 The Library System 64 Librarians, Sales, and the Female Reader 72 Publishers 77 Building on an established market 77 The market for hardback books 81 The Paperback 83 Paperbacks and Pulp Fiction 86 Censorship 92 Publishing at the End of the Twentieth Century 96 3 Genre: History and Form 107 4 Literature for Children 130 5 Further Thoughts on Literature for Children 149 6 Best-selling Authors Since 1900 161 An Age Passes, an Age Begins: 1900 to 1918 165 Florence L. Barclay 165 J. M. Barrie 166 vii viii Contents Arnold Bennett 167 Angela Brazil 168 John Buchan 168 Edgar Rice Burroughs 170 Hall Caine 171 Marie Corelli 172 Arthur Conan Doyle 173 Charles Garvice 175 Elinor Glyn 175 Nat Gould 176 Kenneth Grahame 179 Robert Hichens 179 William Le Queux 181 W. J. Locke 181 A. E. W. Mason 182 Edith Nesbit 183 E. Phillips Oppenheim 184 Baroness Orczy 185 Beatrix Potter 185 Arthur Ransome 186 Sax Rohmer 187 Effie A. Rowlands 188 Berta Ruck 188 Edgar Wallace 189 Dolf Wyllarde (Dorothy Margarette Selby Lowndes) 190 The Interwar Years: 1919 to the Early 1930s 191 Agatha Christie 191 Richmal Crompton 192 Warwick Deeping 193 Ethel M. Dell and Ruby M. Ayres 193 Jeffrey Farnol 195 Sidney Horler 196 E. M. Hull 197 A. S. M. Hutchinson 197 A. A. Milne 198 J. B. Priestley 199 W. Riley 200 Rafael Sabatini 201 Sapper (Herman Cyril McNeile) 201 Mary Webb 202 Contents ix P. G. Wodehouse 203 Virginia Woolf 204 P. C. Wren 205 Dornford Yates 205 World War Two to Suez: The Late 1930s to 1956 207 Kingsley Amis 207 Reverend W. V. Awdry 207 James Hadley Chase 208 Peter Cheyney 209 John Creasey 209 A. J. Cronin 210 Lloyd Douglas 211 Daphne du Maurier 211 Robert Graves 213 C. S. Forester 214 Stephen Francis (Hank Janson) 215 Erle Stanley Gardner 216 William Golding 217 Georgette Heyer 217 James Hilton 218 Hammond Innes 219 W. Somerset Maugham 220 Margaret Mitchell 221 Nicholas Monsarrat 221 George Orwell 222 Mary Renault (Mary Challans) 222 Nevil Shute 223 Mickey Spillane 224 J. R. R. Tolkien 225 Dennis Wheatley 227 The Paperback Years: 1957 to 1974 229 Richard Bach 229 H. E. Bates 229 Enid Blyton 230 Anthony Burgess 231 Sheila Burnford 232 Eric Carle 232 Arthur C. Clarke 233 James Clavell 234
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